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Last Beat of the Heart
Last Beat of the Heart ''is the sixth studio album by 404 (named Keeponrockin404 at the time of release). The album was originally uploaded to YouTube on March 8, 2016 and was released to bandcamp that same day. Background The follow-up to ''Beyond Recognition was originally going to be a double-album concept album entitled For the Fear of Obligation, I Run to My Past, about a depressed man who slowly loses everyone around him and eventually kills himself. The album would have been 404's longest album yet, rounding out over an hour and a half in length. After creating every instrumental for the album, the project was cancelled because of Louis' unsatisfaction with the work. It was very similar to Happy Pills ''while Louis really wanted to experiment further. Louis ultimately decided to abandon the project after already having a few instrumentals for ''Last Beat of the Heart ''completed. The first instrumental made for the album was that of "Fire in the House." Louis was so happy with the effects-driven sound of this song that he decided to craft an album around it, pushing off ''For the Fear of Obligation, I Run to My Past to be the subsequent release. Of course, that never happened. Recording and Production The recording process for ''Last Beat of the Heart ''began with the instrumental for "Fire in the House," which heavily relies on delay effects and distortion to carry its beat. This track inspired Louis to craft other tracks in a similar nature. The vocals on the album were often filtered through distortion, as were many of the instruments. KC and JC recorded instruments for the track "Despite Our Best Efforts, We Cannot Prevent the Inevitable," with KC playing a soft keyboard in the background and JC playing atonal cello. Louis recorded an atonal piano part on this track as well. Music and Lyrics The music on ''Last Beat of the Heart ''is gritty, distorted, and often repetitive. The album opens on "Monolith," a slowly-building industrial track with the vocals entirely screamed. This sets the stage for the straight-forward song structures that the album mostly delivers. Other tracks, such as "It'll All Be Over Soon" and "When Dog Meets Wolf" are a bit more conventional, using typical verse-chorus structure but still relying on heavy use of distortion. Some tracks are industrial rock songs, like the single "Stays the Same." Although this song has a verse-chorus structure, it is still decidedly repetitive in nature, essentially forcing the same melody on the listener throughout the track. There are also three ambient interludes strewn intermittently through the album. "There Were So Many People Watching," "Despite Our Best Efforts, We Cannot Prevent the Inevitable," and "If You Hadn't Have Come Here, I'd Probably Be Alright" are sparsely orchestrated and contain one sample each of psychotic people during interviews. Album Art The album art from ''Last Beat of the Heart ''is a color-corrected photo of coyote tracks preserved in cement. This photo, along with all of the photos from the singles, were taken at the foot of the mountain across from Louis' house in an alleyway behind the row of houses. Track Listing Personnel Louis Falgout - Vocals, production, writer, piano on "Despite Our Best Efforts, We Cannot Prevent the Inevitable" KC - Piano on "Despite Our Best Efforts, We Cannot Prevent the Inevitable" JC - Cello on "Despite Our Best Efforts, We Cannot Prevent the Inevitable"Category:Albums